Black Italian Film Showcase
Saturday and Sunday, February 18-19
FACETS
1517 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago IL
Black Italian Film Showcase is the first celebration of Afro-Italian talents in film, showcasing new features, documentaries, and short films and illuminating the historical, social, and cultural aspects of Black life in Italy through film, offering the opportunity to see a diverse representation of Italy. Curated by Italian-Ghanaian-American producer-director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, this retrospective of Italian of African descent filmmakers deals with questions of colonialism, diversity, global black diaspora, gender, race, and identity that are best answered by those who live Italy’s integration day to day.
Black Italian Film Showcase is presented by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, in collaboration with FACETS on the occasion of Black History Month.
Saturday, February 18th at 5pm
“Autumn Beat” directed by Antonio Dikele Distefano
preceded by the short feature movie “Idris” directed by Kassim Yassin Saleh
The screening will be followed by a public conversation with
Antonio Dikele Distefano and Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, and a cocktail reception.
Sunday, February 19th at 1pm
“Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema” directed by Fred K. Kuwornu
preceded by the short feature movie “Il Moro” (The Moor) directed by Daphne Di Cinto
Sunday, February 19th at 4pm
“Va Pensiero, Walking Stories” directed by Dagmawi Yimer
preceded by the short feature movie ““I am Fatou” directed by Amir RA
Movies will be presented in Italian with English subtitles
Black Italian Film Showcase will also be presented at Wayne State University on February 17th and 18th by The Consulate of Italy in Detroit and the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, in collaboration with Wayne State University’s Irvin D. Reid Honors College and the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
SHORT FEATURES
“I am Fatou” directed by Amir RA
2020, 19’, Italian with English subtitles
Fatou is a 23-year-old Italian girl of Senegalese origin. She lives in a suburb of Rome with her mother, who would like to educate according to the rigid impositions of her culture of origin. But Fatou is looking for her own identity that combines her black Muslim being with Italian society, and unlike most of her peers, the social stigma of the immigrant is imprinted on her, isolating her and impacts her friendships with other young children of foreigners. A universal reflection on the sense of identity, so longed for and, for many, never really possessed.
“Idris” directed by Kassim Yassin Saleh
2017, 13’, Italian with English subtitles
On a day in mid August, Idris finds himself in a foreign country, without his parents, cared for by a shelter home populated by socially awkward demons, 5 to 14 years old. He’s forced to socialize, playing in a rundown public pool with them. An easy game: fetch some hardware parts from the bottom of the pool. He already came afloat once, swimming back to a boat in the middle of the sea. Will he decide to join his new family waiting for him at the side of the pool?
“Il Moro” (The Moor) directed by Daphne Di Cinto
2021, 22’, Italian with English subtitles
Alessandro de’ Medici, son of an enslaved African woman and of Pope Clement VII, becomes the first Duke of Florence. Will he be able to demonstrate that his African origins can go hand in hand with belonging to the Medici family?
LONG FEATURES
“Autumn Beat” directed by Antonio Dikele Distefano
2022, 103”, Italian with English subtitles
“Autumn Beat” produced by Amazon Studios and co-produced by Indiana Productions is an
exciting and unprecedented story about Black culture in Italy, and the role of music as a means of redemption and search for identity. Two brothers, Tito and Paco have the same dream: to break into the rap music world. Paco is a born performer and Tito knows how to write like no other but ambition, life, and love for the same woman will test their bond.
“Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema” directed by Fred Kudjo Kuwornu
2016, 65’, Italian and English with English subtitles
A documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers never heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema. With modern day interviews and archival footage, the documentary discloses the personal struggles and triumphs that classic Afro-Italian, African-American and Afro-descendant actors faced in the Italian film industry, while mirroring their struggles with those of contemporary actors who are working diligently to find respectable, significant, and non-stereotypical roles, but are often unable to do so.
“Va Pensiero, Walking Stories” directed by Dagmawi Yimer
2013, 55’, Italian with English subtitles
An interwoven account of two racist attacks in Milan and Florence and the victims’ painful attempts to piece the fragments of their lives back together. This powerful account brings together the overlapping stories of the three protagonists’ ordeal and their enduring hope of building a life in Italy, despite the fear and uncertainty of suddenly being plunged back to the moment of the attacks by one look or gesture.
This program is part of Chi Siamo: (Re)presenting Italian Culture, the theme selected for 2023 by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago. This year-long series will explore the topics of representation and inclusion in Italian arts, with a specific focus on cross-cultural contamination in contemporary and modern Italy.